Category: Film

On Sunday Sharon and I went to see Spellbound, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Its funny that this is the second documentary we’ve seen at the flicks in as many outings. see below. Here it may not be life and death, but it sure feels like it. We follow eight kids as they battle through the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. As I saw the kids they kind of reminded me of Martin in The Simpsons ( I wondered how long it would be before the show got a mention).

Both of the documentaries are part of The Director’s Chair which shows films that aren’t mainstream. Its a good idea, except the films aren’t really publicised, except in the local paper. There were quite a few people at Spellbound, and even more at Touching the Void. I know if feels like these films get marginalised, but at least they’re shown.

Jojo in the stars is an animation by Marc Craste. It recently won a Bafta for best animated short. Everything I’ve seen so far, including this interview at AnimWatch is great. There’s a kind of Eraserhead mood about it, and in the plot, there are echoes of Freaks which as is a great film made in 1932 about the characters in a circus troupe. Jojo is beautifully lit and the images are tender but a little scary. As soon as there’s a screening, we’ll get tickets.

…nothing can compare to the experience that Joe Simpson had on that mountain. The film is a fine companion to the book. Its sad to think that after everything, when all is lost, its not your loved ones or the best experiences of your life you think about…its Boney M.

New to this site – a film typelist. So if you want to see what we’ve been watching lately on our very cheap Asda’s DVD player have a look here. There will be alot of foreign stuff and I understand that there’s a whole raft of filmie underclass who won’t watch anything with subtitles on – shame on you – you’re missing out on the some of the greatest movies ever made. When I go to France, I always buy a copy of Premiere magazine, in fact i tend to clean out the film section of the tabac (newsagents). There seems to be no distinction between Hollywood films and Art House cinema, its all the same and is judged equally. Its the sort of thing you wish would go on here, then there wouldn’t be such a class divide in the way people see films. I know it comes down to distribution the multiplex’s attitude, but I do think there is a cutural difference too. People think that Luc Besson is arty because he’s french, but I’m sure he’d rather put himself next to Micheal Mann and Jan de Bont etc. He makes arty action films…mmm…and he looks like Martin Scanlan.

It took Sharon about three viewings to spot the bear shape in the clouds. We watched this not so long ago and loved it. Apparently its the highest grossing French film of all time, previously held by Cyrano de Bergerac. I hear that the team behind Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain have reunited to make a new film which should be out towards the end of next year.

School of Rock is a brilliant film that everyone will enjoy. Its a particularly barnstorming performance from Jack Black, I don’t think it would have been the same film without him. The kids are great, and the songs are fun too, I don’t think I’ve had this much fun at the flicks for a very long time.